Welcome to FAST FOCUS ON YOUR SUCCESS
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(This is a sticky post, please find current news items below) By Susan Battley in Leadership |
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Way back in the last millennium I produced and hosted a weekly radio program that focused on leadership and career effectiveness. And way before internet radio broadcasting became mainstream, my program - which I called Fast Focus on Success (tm) - was available online to a global audience. Its pioneering status was recognized by the Clinton White House Office of Science & Technology.
It's a fast world, and seemingly getting faster all the time. We're all doing so much that it's tough to find time to reflect and learn from what we're doing and what we've done. This is a huge issue for the CEOs, executives, entrepreneurs, and technical professionals I work with.
So I will focus here on timely commentary and actionable insight that's linked to real-world challenges and opportunities.
There's sure to be cross-fertilization with my firm's complimentary e-newsletter - which will also go by the Fast Focus on Your Success designator. You can subscribe here. The same applies to articles I pen for a variety of business and management periodicals.
Bill Gates - From Success to Significance
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Friday, 27 June 08 - 10:44 AM (GMT -05:00) By Susan Battley in Leadership |
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Today, Bill Gates quits his day job at Microsoft. But this brilliant and feisty
entrepreneur can hardly be seen as someone on the cusp of retirement.
No, for a number of years now, Gates has been recreating himself as a leader and philanthropist on a much broader stage. Through his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he is transforming his awesome financial success into global significance. His full-time focus now will involve tackling fundamental issues of children's health and education.
Bill Gates is to technology innovation what Tiger Woods is to golf: uniquely talented, driven, and a champion competitor.
This said, Gates' new life phase illustrates an opportunity - and a challenge - that accomplished adults in their 50s and 60s encounter. They have achieved their professional ambitions. Now what?, they ask.
The answer, I believe, involves a new adult developmental task, that of transforming professional "success" into personal "significance."
Giving back as a volunteer or mentor; teaching the next generation; involving yourself in community and social causes are some of the paths my clients have taken or are considering.
And you don't have to be Bill Gates to look ahead and plan for the time when you will not be at your day job.
How will you navigate the path from professional success to significance?
How do you create larger meaning and relevancy?
This is a question that all of us - not just billionaires - should ponder if we want to realize our full potential and accomplishment over the decades of our lives. Yes, you need to achieve success first. Success as you envision it for yourself.
Decades from now, I wonder how Bill Gates will be remembered. Consider the legacy of Andrew Carnegie , for example. During his lifetime Carnegie was a hard-nosed industrialist. Say his name now and most people think of him first as a patron of the arts and education. They mention legendary Carnegie Hall for the performing arts or Carnegie Mellon University.
Time will tell.
Use Sticky Acronyms for Winning Results
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Tuesday, 17 June 08 - 01:48 PM (GMT -05:00) By Susan Battley in Leadership |
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Highly effective leaders understand the power of "sticky" messages to motivate and guide their core constituencies. They also understand the power of repetition to reinforce their messages.
Sticky messages are engaging and simple to remember even in our attention-challenged world. And leaders need to be memorable, and create memorable connections, if they are to get winning results through others. They can't just be authority figures and bosses to get the best from people consistently over time.
Here are three acronyms that I regularly share with my executive clients. They can be used in any number of situations, from group meetings to formal presentations to one-on-one discussions.
The fact that these acronyms are already familiar words is a positive, since using them reinforces existing knowledge. This in turn makes the acronyms that much easier to recall and act upon!
Three Acronyms That Power Results
# 1. F-O-C-U-S
Follow - One - Course - Until - Successful
Sample Statement: "To achieve our targets for this year, we need to apply the FOCUS principle. That's F-O-C-U-S. It stands for: follow one course until successful.
# 2. F-A-S-T
Focused - Actionable - Strategic - Timely
Sample Statement: "It's important that we spend our meeting time today on F-A-S-T activities. F-A-S-T activities are focused, actionable, strategic and timely."
#3. S-M-A-R-T
Specific - Measurable - Achievable - Relevant- Time-based
Sample Statement: "Be sure your department's performance goals for the coming quarter meet the S-M-A-R-T criteria. They need to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based.
These three acronyms use words that people readily identify with in their professional roles. So consider using F-O-C-U-S, F-A-S-T, and S-M-A-R-T in your communications. Or modify them to convey your own message and priorities. Or create your own acronym from scratch.
Your message needs to stick in people's minds - and resonate there - before it can inspire commitment and action.
What Does It Take to Be an Effective Manager?
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Tuesday, 13 May 08 - 01:19 PM (GMT -05:00) By Susan Battley in Leadership |
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What does it take to transition successfully from an individual contributor role in an organization to a management position?
I was recently asked this question during the Q & A part of a presentation I gave at a forum for chief information officers.
A successful progression, I replied, involves three development and skill acquisition phases:
- Manage information
- Manage projects
- Manage people
I also pointed out that a big trap many supervisors fall into is to assume that someone who is great at managing information and project flow will be equally effective as a manager of people. (A murmur of agreement went around the room at this point.)
The first two phases - managing information and managing projects - are necessary but not sufficient.
Rather, giving a potential manager opportunities to work with others on team projects and committees are important skill acquisition experiences.
Solid interpersonal competencies, such as how to influence, negotiate, and deal with conflict, are tools that every newbie manager - no matter the business or discipline - needs in his or her toolbox.
Smart leadership helps their high potentials acquire and enhance these interpersonal competencies. And if these competencies are subpar, they don't put them into people supervision roles for which they are not qualified ...and may not even be interested in doing.
Specifically Speaking
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Monday, 31 March 08 - 12:44 PM (GMT -05:00) By Susan Battley in Leadership |
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As a leader or manager, your role is to get results through others. When you want winning results, specifics trump generalities every time. Clear direction, expressed as clear metrics, identify what success looks like. Your people's focus and effort can then stay on course.
Common business metrics include:
- Productivity
- Profitability
- Cycle time
- Market share
- Retention and promotion rates
- Absenteeism
- New client or sponsor acquisition
So why is it that so many executives and managers give direction and support with phrases like:
"Do your best."
"Success? I'll know it when I see it."
"I trust you to get the job done."
These statements sound familiar, don't they?
When it comes to setting performance expectations, generic comments leave much to be desired. If you rely on others having to read your mind or your body language, you're setting them, yourself, and your enterprise up for disappointing results.
Consider that vague instructions or metrics create performance risk in that they may be open to multiple interpretations. This can make it difficult for an individual or a team to work effectively and efficiently. For example, team members can spend time unproductively debating what constitutes a project's success. Or a technical professional or researcher can conduct lengthy analyses that prove to be irrelevant and costly.
Why do leaders and managers default to using generalities and catch-all phrases? In my experience, here are common reasons for the behavior:
- They incorrectly assume that blanket comments show their confidence in others
- They don't want to be seen as micro-managers
- They haven't thought through for themselves what actually constitutes success or how to measure it
- They believe that the stress caused by ambiguity will make people work harder
- They think that too much specificity can actually limit people's productivity to stated levels and outputs.
My article The Power of Specificity discusses this topic further, and includes five specific pointers for managers to adopt. You can read the article online here.
Sleep Your Way to Success, Really
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Wednesday, 19 March 08 - 12:15 PM (GMT -05:00) By Susan Battley in Leadership |
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Sure, situational events and stressors can keep you from getting a good night's sleep. But research shows quite clearly that adults need an average of seven to eight hours of sleep per night to perform optimally.
Decision quality, mood, stress resilience, creativity and learning are all dependent on a good night's sleep.
Yes, you really can sleep your way to success.
Three Proven Tips for Getting Great Sleep
1. Buy a new mattress. The mattress is the most used piece of furniture in the home. The average person spends one-third of his or her life in bed. Yet many people replace their cars more often than their beds.
2. Keep technology at bay. Banish your Blackberry, iPhone, and computer from your sleeping area. These are distractions and temptations that compete with sleep. They have to go.
3. Avoid bright lighting at night. Research shows that bright lights interfere with the body’s natural biorhythms and sleep clock. So dim those room lights.
Consider this additional high-value benefit: “It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards.” (Gracian, 16th century philosopher)
Sleep well, sleep enough!
... More items are available in our News Archive
